Division of Ecosystem Sciences
Ecosystem Sciences is the largest of the three divisions in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management (ESPM), consisting of 36 faculty members and extension specialists with interest in applying ecology and biogeochemistry to environmental problems. The overall mission of the Ecosystem Sciences Division is to increase knowledge of the biological, chemical, and physical processes that determine terrestrial ecosystem dynamics in order to provide a scientific basis for management and to analyze adverse stresses placed on terrestrial ecosystems by society. Central to this mission is a collaboration in full partnership between biological and physical scientists, leading to an integrated understanding of ecosystem composition, structure and function, as well as to the extension of basic research findings through modeling, implementation, and extension activities.The major focus of the Ecosystem Sciences Division is terrestrial, in that the principal research and teaching efforts are directed toward forests, grasslands, and agricultural lands, including their interactions with contiguous aquatic, wetland and marine ecosystems and the atmosphere. The investigation of these ecosystems is carried out over a wide range of spatial and temporal scales, with an emphasis on extending the mechanistic understandings of processes derived from research at smaller scales to landscape, regional, and global scales. The role of human activities, including ecosystem management scenarios, is an integral component of this focus. The integration of biological and physical disciplines over a range of spatial scales makes the Ecosystem Sciences Division unique.
A long-term goal of research and teaching in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management (ESPM) is to provide the scientific foundation for managing terrestrial ecosystems, both natural and human-dominated. The challenge facing the State of California, as it strives to retain its national position at the vanguard of technological development, is to find acceptable compromises between the often-conflicting goals of maximizing economic benefit to its citizens, minimizing environmental stress, and sustaining natural resources. To meet this challenge, basic and applied research in ESPM must provide information to support decisions that are scientifically and economically viable, environmentally sound, socially and politically tenable, and conserving of renewable resources.